Nhlanhla Nene not leaving his post for now

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene is expected to travel to Indonesia in order to represent South Africa at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank annual meeting. Itumeleng English African News Agency (ANA)

CAPE TOWN - Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene seems to be continuing with work as usual, despite reports that he asked to be removed from his position.

Nene is expected to travel to Indonesia in order to represent South Africa at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank annual meeting.

A spokesperson for Treasury said the finance minister was expected to arrive in Indonesia on Wednesday.

REMOVE NENE

Meanwhile, the pressure has mounted on President Ramaphosa to sack Nene after he confessed to secretly meeting the controversial Gupta family at their house.

On Monday, EFF leader Julius Malema intensified his push for Nene to be removed in an open letter to Ramaphosa, saying he has a chance to clean up his Cabinet by also firing other tainted ministers.

“We reiterate our position that his continued stay as minister of finance is not in the best interest of South Africa. "Treasury cannot be presided over by a person without integrity,” Malema said.

“Nene has lied on numerous occasions about his role in the Cabinet and the government. He has also facilitated the capture of the state by the criminal Gupta syndicate.

"He was party to the most unpatriotic state capture by a family of foreign nationals.”

The DA also weighed in on the Nene saga, saying Ramaphosa should drop him from his Cabinet.

DA MP David Maynier, in a statement, said: “We find it hard to believe that, under the circumstances, the minister has the full support of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who stated in his State of the Nation address on February 16 that ‘this is the year in which we will turn the tide of corruption in our public institutions’.

“We believe, therefore, that President Cyril Ramaphosa should accept the minister's offer to resign and act swiftly to replace him before the medium-term Budget policy statement is presented in Parliament.”

RAND DROPS

The rand weakened more than 1 percent on Monday as news broke that Nene wanted to resign.

At 5pm the rand was bid 10c weaker at R14.87 against the dollar, having hit a session low of R14.99 in early trade.
Stocks dipped to their lowest since early March led by gold and banks shares, tracking the weaker currency. At 10:20 on Tuesday the rand was trading at R14.86 to dollar
.

It should be noted that as to date Nene is still scheduled to address parliament for his Medium-Term budget speech later this month.